An elderly woman who insisted on smoking while wearing an oxygen mask died after her face was engulfed in flames.

Margaret Woodward, 77, suffered severe burns to her face, lips, tongue and neck after the accident on November 20 last year at her home in Reeth, near Richmond, North Yorkshire.

An inquest into her death at the Evolution Centre in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, heard how the pensioner used an oxygen tank to help her breathe as she suffered from chronic obstructive respiratory disease.

Newcastle Royal Victoria Infirmary where Margaret Woodward died

But Mrs Woodward, who was a long-term smoker, had been known to continue tosmoke while using the mask.

Although highly concentrated oxygen is commonly used to treat diseases that impair the body's ability to take up oxygen, when it is exposed to a spark it can cause an explosion or fire.

Community warden Elizabeth Lucas said: 'At around 11.10am Mrs Woodward pressed her emergency button but I couldn't work out what she was saying, other than the word oxygen.

Mrs Woodward was rushed to hospital by an emergency air ambulance (file photo)

She said: 'I found her sat on her bed with burns to her face, lips, tongue, leftshoulder and hand.

'She said it was her fault and the oxygen had caused the fire when she had been smoking.'

The inquest was told how Mrs Woodward suffered multiple cardiac arrests due to a lack of oxygen in her blood after being airlifted to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary.